Spring Break 2012 - Part 2

Easter was a lot of fun this year. Marino understood the concept and was very excited for the Easter Bunny's arrival. This year, the Easter Bunny brought some treats, but also a toy recycling truck (by far the hit of the day), sunglasses, some books and a tiny kite. Marino still isn't really into candy - he just wanted to eat marshmallows.

We headed over to my mother-in-law's house in the early afternoon...

this is what Marino wanted to wear.

We had a delicious dinner and lots of fun visiting with family.

Monday was our last day of Spring Break. In the morning, we got together for a playdate with our friends The Richmond's, who we met back when Marino and Hayden were neighbors in the NICU. Today they are almost 4 and it's hard to believe they were ever so fragile and tiny!

Marino loves swings right now - the higher he goes, the happier he is!

I love this picture of Hayden - so handsome!

Serious conversation while climbing...

Pretending to drive...

Sweet brothers: Jackson and Hayden

Spring break is over but we made the most of our time off!

Spring Break 2012 - Part 1

Marino's preschool was closed for 6 days for Spring Break. I was fortunate to have my mom and stepfather visit the first couple days so I didn't have to take the entire time off of work. Marino had a great time with Gramma and Grampa Ray - visiting the lake, playgrounds, the bookstore and getting in lots of snuggle time. They left on Wednesday afternoon and Marino and I headed up to New Jersey to visit Sonia and the girls. We had amazingly warm weather that day and the kids were happy to spend lots of time outside.

Siena and Cat, happy to be enjoying the great weather, chips and salsa!

The next morning, some more friends came over and the Easter Bunny (aka Uncle Wil), hid eggs at the playground across the street. The kids had a lot of fun finding eggs, and just as much fun opening them!

 Can you tell they're excited to find eggs?

Meeting to discuss whether there were any eggs left to find...

Cat enjoying her treats

This is the only thing Marino was interested in eating - bunny marshmellows.

After the egg hunt and lunch, we headed back to Maryland. On the way back, Marino was already asking "Can we go to Aunt Sonia's tomorrow?"

On Friday morning, we headed over to Meadowside Nature Center for a celebration of their 40th anniversary. This was my first time there and I'd like to go back sometime to check things out when there's a little less going on there. This being Spring Break, there were hundreds of people there (I think even the staff was surprised by the volume of visitors). It was very fun, though - they did a great job of having activities for every age.

This cool game featured a hawk "talon" with a magnet on the bottom...you had to catch magnetic mice to eat, without accidentally picking up cars, hitting telephone poles, etc. A lot of the game emphasized how difficult life can be for raptors - it was an interesting perspective.

One of the permanent residents at Meadowside...this guy shares a home with a vulture.

I wasn't able to get a good picture, but they also have a bald eagle. I had no idea how huge eagles were!

Of course, all the kids loved the bubble wands, and chasing the bubbles after they made them.

My tired boy after visiting the raptors!

The rest of our Spring Break coming soon!